Pain
by pinkbubble
Summary: chapter 18...OMG i am freakin' hecka sorry for the long wait! had writers block! . anyways...18! think its very slow in beginning and middle but the end! oh god! the moment you've all been waiting for, he tells her.
1. Chapter 1

**Pain **

It rained all into the night. The wet Sakura walked alone with her wand in hand to her school.

"It all ends here...tonight," Sakura said as she was standing out front of the school. "Sword!" she yelled fiercely.

Her wand had then changed into the form of a long, thin sword. With five slashes and a swift kick, she knocked the front doors down and the lights had suddenly turned on. She then walked into the well lit hallway. Her footsteps echoed throughout the place. She continued on walking until she saw small figurines of penguins. They then suddenly went up into the air, floating for a second and then went towards to Sakura. Mei Ling came out of nowhere and punched the figures and smashed them to millions of pieces. Blow after blow, punch after punch, the figures kept on coming.

"Mei Ling!" What are you doing here!" Sakura yelled.

Mei Ling then yelled out, "GO!"

Sakura then nodded and ran to the stairs leading to the second floor. She ran up the stairs and into the second floor hallway of the school but only to find a five foot, ten inch tall man at the top of the stairs.

"I will kill you! Sword!" Sakura yelled, charging at the person.

Sakura thrust the sword at the man's chest, but the man moved to the side and was deeply stabbed in his upper, left arm. Droplets of bright red fell to the floor. The man grabbed the sword with his right hand and when he grabbed it, blood oozed out slowly to the ground from his right palm and he chuckled softly. He then pulled it out of his bloodied, mangled arm and let out a soft groan. Sakura stood there with her blood stained sword looking at the guy with one arm hold the other.

"Is that it?" he asked Sakura in a grim voice.

He then let go of his dead arm and threw his right arm to the side. A bright white flash filled the hall and a very large and long sword appeared in his hand which is a meter in length and two feet and a half in width.

"You will die Sakura, just like Syaoran did," the man said while disappearing. "I will be up on the rooftop Sakura. I'll be waiting…"

Sakura was stunned to see what had happened, how he had disappeared out of the blue, but she didn't care as long as she got her revenge for Syaoran. She then had her sword changed back to her trusty wand and yelled out "**_Fly_**!" She then opened the window and jumped off the window ledge and flew to the school's rooftop and landed.

"Where are you!" yelled Sakura at the darkness.

She heard a thump behind her and turned, but nothing was there. She turned back to see the man was running towards her, swinging his massive sword with one hand at her. Sakura yelled out "**_Firey!_**!" Flames of massive magnitude went towards the man. He jumped high and dodged the flames. Then Sakura yelled out "**_Wood!_**" Large vines of wood came at the guy who was still in the air from the jump. The wood wrapped around the man's arms, legs and body. He was constricted and had dropped his sword.

"It's over," Sakura said.

"That's what you think." The man said with a devilish smile. "Flare!"

In a flash, a pillar of fire came from beneath the man, engulfing him with flames. The wood entrapping him, burned to nothing. Ashes filled the night sky. The pillar of fire kept on going. Sakura then backed away and was trying to endure the scorching heat.

"Ugh…" she groaned. "It's so hot…I…I…have to do something!" And with that, she yelled out "**_Water!"_**

A massive amount of water came from the sky and collided with the flaming pillar. It hit and quickly steam gushed out and made a loud hissing sound. Wondering if the man had somehow survived the raging inferno, Sakura had stood there with her guard up, waiting for the steam to clear. She waited and when it finally did clear, she saw nothing. She looked around her and yet still saw nothing. But she failed to notice that a certain large sword was gone.

"Up here!" said the man, holding his sword with his right hand, above his head.

Surprised, Sakura quickly raised her wand to defend herself. Cling they went when they went in contact with each other. As Sakura held her wand over her head with the pressure of the man's sword, she kicked him in the stomach. Oomph went the man. The man then backed away to the ledge of the school and Sakura went in to hit him where she had kicked him. As Sakura tried to whack him with her wand, the man grabbed it.

"It's over Sakura." He said in a chilling voice.

He grabbed the wand out of Sakura's hand and threw it to the side. Sakura was in a state of disbelief. Sakura went for her wand but the man was too quick. He had grabbed her by the throat and lifted her up in the air and over the ledge.

"Well Sakura it's been nice playing with you. I'll see you later." said the man.

Sakura, trying to free herself, went for his left arm. Barely reaching, she grabbed the man's injured arm and squeezed it hard. More blood gushed out. He roared with pain. He then had let go of Sakura. And she fell and fell. Thirty, twenty five, twenty feet closer to ground she went. She fell and fell and fell. Fifteen, ten, five feet closer to the ground, Sakura kept on falling. Little beads of watery droplets came out of her eyes.

"Syaoran, I'm sorry." She whispered. "I'm really sorry…"

Almost to the ground, she then had woken up. Panting hard with beads of sweat all over her face, the twelve year old had woken up from the nightmare. She couldn't believe what had just happen. It was all just a dream.


	2. Chapter 2

**Pain **

That dream was three years ago. The now fifteen year old, light-brown haired girl was walking down the street. She always thought about the dream, how it haunted her. But she still dismissed it as nothing but a dream. She continued on walking and saw a familiar figure. It was Syaoran, the guy she liked. His hair was short and it was a chestnut colored. He was 5 foot 5 inches and wore a black shirt and matching pants. She instantly stopped thinking about the dream and ran to him all happily.

"I hope you weren't waiting long!" said Sakura.

"Oh no, of course not, I just love waiting for someone for what seems to be an hour!"

"I'm sorry?" as she said laughing nervously.

"Whatever…"

"Look I'm sorry! I just woke up late because Kero and I had a pillow fight just because we were bored and I guess one of the pillows smacked the alarm clock off.

"Whatever. Come on let's go."

He picked up the basket that was lying on the ground next to his foot.

"So where are we going?" asked Sakura.

"To the park."

"Oooohh…So what are you gonna tell me that was so important that you couldn't tell me over the phone?" she said curiously

"I'll tell you when we get there."

They both walked on to the park. Out of the corner of her eye, Sakura looked at Syaoran who seemed to be in deep thought. Both said nothing to each other. It seemed quiet for a long time. So Sakura tried to start up a conversation to break the silence.

"So…umm…you uh…like stuff?" she asked.

He didn't respond. He was still thinking. So Sakura made another attempt.

"I saw this one scary movie and I like, peed in my pants and I had nightmares for awhile."

He still didn't say anything. So she tried once more.

"That big, fat bitch won't let us!" she yelled out.

It worked. "Huh? What did you say?" he asked.

"I said rabbits eat lettuce." She said with a smile.

"Oh yeah that's right they do. They also eat carrots too you know." He said.

The two talked about rabbits along the way and finally reached the entrance to the park. As they went through the entrance, they both instantly felt something that lasted a second. It was like an electric shock and at the same time it seemed numbing cold.

"Sakura, did you feel that?" asked Syaoran.

"Yeah I did. What was it?" said Sakura.

"I got a bad feeling about this. Keep your guard up." said Syaoran.

Sakura nodded and they both walked on. They looked around to see anything that may be out of the ordinary and saw nothing. The park was beautiful. The lush green grass which was filled with small white flowers and small hills were around. The pink blossoms flew when the wind had blown by the trees. They slowly floated to the ground, gliding blissfully. It looked like pink snow. In the middle was a large pond filled blue water that sparkled in the warm sun. They found a spot to sit with shade from a tree near the pond. They both sat down. Syaoran reached in the basket and took out two containers of food. He gave one to Sakura and also a fork.

"Come on. Let's eat" Said Syaoran. "I'll tell you the thing after we finished."

The container was filled with a mound of white rice and many mini shaped octopuses that were maroon colored, and below that was small white dumplings. They both ate saying nothing to each other. The two enjoyed the view of the pond of the bright colorful fish swimming around in the sparkly water. Ducks floated on the surface going towards children who were throwing bread into the pond. They splashed around fighting for the last piece of the bread. Sakura had finished and waited for Syaoran to finish but it seemed he didn't eat. It looked like he was thinking once again.

"Are you gonna tell me what you want to say to me?" asked Sakura. "Or am I gonna have to wait even more?"

"Huh? Oh yeah I guess I'll tell you. Umm…We've been friends for awhile now and since we're good friends. I felt that I should tell you instead of hearing it from someone else. Sakura, I-"

He was interrupted by a bright red ball that rolled in the middle of them. They both looked around and saw a kid running towards them. The small kid slowly walked up to Sakura. He was about 4 and a half in height and had short hair that was sliver. He had a red tee and had black shorts.

The kid walked up to Sakura and said, "Excuse me Miss but may I have my ball back?"

Sakura nodded happily and grabbed the ball and handed it to the little boy. "Here you go. Now enjoy playing with your friends."

The little boy grabbed it and then said, "Are you ready?"

Sakura was puzzled and a bit scared at the question. Syaoran noticed and then said, "Look, you got your ball. Now go play with your-"

The boy grabbed Syaoran's chest, hard. Cracks could be heard. His small fingers were wedged into him. "Please do not interrupt me when I'm talking." He said as Syaoran choked and gasped for air.

Sakura looking terrified, she grabbed the kid's hand and somehow managed to pry him off of Syaoran's chest. Syaoran grabbed his chest, gasping for air on the ground, down on his knees.

"Who are you!" cried Sakura. "What do you want!" as she went towards to Syaoran's side.

"Come on. Let's play for awhile." said the kid.

In an instant, massive spikes of epic proportions of earth rose from the ground. People were screaming, horrified of what was happening. The small kid floated into the air, hovering a few feet. He gently glided a yard away from Sakura and Syaoran.

"Syaoran! Are you okay?" asked the worried Sakura.

He groaned and saw the hugely spikes headed towards them. "Sakura!" yelled Syaoran as he pushed her to the left, out of harm's way. Sakura rolled and Syaoran barley escaped, only to end up getting a cut on his right arm. "Come on. We gotta stop him." said Syaoran, pulling up the down Sakura.

"Syaoran…Are you okay" asked Sakura.

"Yeah, it's just a little scratch. But come on, we have to do something about him." as he pointed to the boy.

Sakura stood getting ready and her magical key appeared and floated into the air. It shined a faded blue and began to spin wildly. Sakura slowly opened her arms and a bright yellow circle appeared beneath her feet. The bright circle had drawings of a moon on one side and the sun on the other. As the key continued to spin, it grew bigger and longer into her trusty, magical wand. Syaoran grabbed his amulet and it began to glow and a sword with a length of four feet appeared into his hands. They both stood there as they watched people screaming, running form the jagged earth and all in the middle of it was the young slivery boy who started it all, floating in the middle of the pond, towards the direction of Sakura and Syaoran. The spikes continued on and so did the running of the frightened people.

"Do you think we'll be able to stop him?" asked Sakura.

Syaoran lightly touched his chest, remembering the absolute pain. But even so, he was unsure about whether they could beat him. Then he smiled and said, "Come on. Let's rock his world!"


	3. Chapter 3

: **Pain **:

Sakura and Syaoran ran towards the boy who was causing the mayhem in the park. Syaoran ran to the left and Sakura ran to the right of the lake where the boy was. Syaoran drew his sword and at the same time, took out a small, pale yellow looking rectangular piece of paper that had Japanese characters on it that was in his pocket and threw it in front of him. He thrust his sword against the paper and yelled out, "**_God of Thunder_**!" Massive bolts of thunder and lighting came out in the middle of the paper, all aimed at the boy.

In a flash, the boy reacted, and managed to block it with a pillar of earth. Seeing this, Sakura took out one of her trusty cards and placed it in front of her. "**_Firey_**!" yelled Sakura. A tall pillar of fire rose from the ground and went towards the boy, but as before, he countered with another pillar of earth. The two elements collided and exploded with fury. Bits of flaming earth flew across the park. They both ran behind a tree to seek cover from the firey bits.

"Sakura, what do you think we should do?" said Syaoran.

"I don't know! Whatever we do, it keeps on blocking our attacks." said Sakura. Then it hit her. She had an idea. "Syaoran! I think I got it! I think this is what we should do."

After much talking, they both knew what to do and darted out of the tree. Syaoran ran in front of the boy. Sakura ran behind Syaoran. The boy saw them and used his pillars of earth. Syaoran jumped up into the air, dodging it and Sakura ran to the right side. The boy sent out more pillars and spikes at the two. Both of them were running around, dodging for their lives. Syaoran used **_God of Thunder_** again on the boy once more and the boy used another pillar to block it.

Syaoran looked at where the boy was and looked at the pond and smiled. "Let's do this!" Syaoran yelled at the boy. "It's gonna be over for your sorry ass!"

He then used **_God of Thunder_** again on the boy and a pillar came up again. Sakura saw her opportunity, and went in. She ran to the boy and was close to him. The boy looked away from Syaoran to Sakura and used a spike of earth at Sakura. It went right through her. But then, like magic, Sakura disappeared in thin air. She was gone. The boy was puzzled and quickly looked at Syaoran, who was looking at the tree where he and Sakura took cover. Next to the tree was Sakura holding a card called **_Mirror_**.

"Go **_Shadow_**!" yelled out Sakura.

Beneath the boy was no longer the blue watery pond. Instead it was nothing but a pitch black pool of darkness. **_Shadow_**, which looked like water being gushed up in the sky, engulfed the boy. As the blackness engulfed the boy in a ball, it then floated in the air. "**_God of Thunder_**!" yelled out Syaoran.

Bolts of thunder and lighting shot out to the black ball. As the electrifying attack was inches away, the huge, black ball opened up a hole and the thunder and lighting all went in and the hole became enclosed. The ball was stretched where the thunder hit. Sakura held another card and yelled out "**_Freeze_**!"

The pond became beautiful silvery white. Sakura then took out another card and yelled out "**_Strength_**!" She jumped high into the clouds and down to earth where the ball was with such force. She twisted her body and kicked the ball with unparallel power. The ball opened up a hole and the boy flew out and smashed right through the frozen lake. Large chunks of ice went up.

Sakura landed down next to the pond, and Syaoran walked over to her. They both looked at the pond. They both said nothing. All they did was look for the body of the powerful enemy that they faced. All they saw was nothing but ice and water. In the midst of it though, was a paper talisman.

"It's a summoning talisman." said Syaoran. "Only a high level magic user can do such a thing."

"Come on. I think we should leave." said Sakura.

Syaoran nodded and both of their weapons changed back to what they were. They walked to the far side and jumped over the wall and proceeded on walking home. They walked for awhile. Both said nothing.

As they got to the intersection, Syaoran said, "We should talk about this."

"Yeah we should. I'll call you tonight?" said Sakura.

Syaoran nodded. "Yeah call me. Bye Sakura."

"Bye." said Sakura.

Syaoran went to the left side of the intersection, while Sakura went to the right side of the intersection. Syaoran walked on and then he saw Sakura's best friend, Tomoyo. She wore a dress that had small roses all over it. She had long raven hair and was the same height as Sakura. Some say that they could be twins.

"What happened to you?" asked Tomoyo.

"Oh it's a long ass story. Too lazy to tell you right now. Later?" said Syaoran.

"Ok. So…how did it go in the park? Did you do everything that I told you to do?" said Tomoyo.

"Oh yeah. Did everything." He said.

"So…did you tell her? Does she know?" she said anxiously.

"I…" He paused and then said, "Didn't tell her. I was about to until I was interrupted by something."

"Oh…Well I can tell her"

"No. I should tell her." He said.

Tomoyo sighed and got closer to him and said, "It must be hard for you, can't tell Sakura about-"

"Yeah it is. And it sucks even more that I haven't told her." He interrupted.

"Come here." She said. She got even closer to Syaoran and hugged him.

Meanwhile as Sakura walked down the street on her way to home, she stopped and thought 'Oh yeah. He was supposed to tell me something. That's why went to the park. I think I can catch up to him.' She ran back and past the intersection and stopped. There she saw Tomoyo and Syaoran hugging each other. She was in a state of shock. She looked at them for awhile and then ran. She ran away form the intersection and away from the two. As she ran, she couldn't see. Her vision became all blurry. Tears of pain filled her eyes.


	4. Chapter 4

: **Pain **:

In the warm morning light, Sakura laid in bed, with the sunlight hitting her in the face. She buried her head into her pillow. She was covered in her baby blue blankets and on top of her was her best companion, Kero. Kero was a yellow small bear with small white wings and he had a long skinny tail. He met Sakura when she opened up the Book of Clow. She had broken the seal and released Kero where he lied dormant, guarding the Clow cards which Sakura used. Things in the beginning became unusual but eventually became normal for the two. Whenever Sakura had fought against the cards, trying to capture them, Kero was always there to help by giving her advice and Sakura would then simply repay him by giving him sweets. It was the best relationship for them.

"Chaa…." He groaned. "What's wrong Sakura? Why have you been so down for the last two days?"

Sakura didn't respond so Kero grabbed her pillow and tried to lift it off her head. Didn't work out too well for him. He kept on trying and Sakura was getting annoyed by it. She didn't want to be bothered.

"Kero! Stop!" yelled Sakura. "Fine I'll tell you."

Kero was happy hearing this and stopped. "So what's wrong?" he asked.

"I saw Tomoyo and Syaoran hugging each other. I think that they're together. Tomoyo never mentioned anything about him. I don't even know why she would like him." Said Sakura.

"Sakura…are you jealous?" said Kero. "Do you like Syaoran?"

Sakura paused about the question and then replied, "I…don't know." She sighed and then said "I'm hungry. I'll go look for something to eat."

She got out of bed and went down the stairs to the kitchen. She opened up the fridge and saw nothing looked edible. So she then looked in the cabinets and the same thing happened. "Noooooo….!" She yelled out. "No food!"

She then went to the table and decided to wait for her dad to come home from work and make dinner. She looked at the clock wondering how long he was going to be home. Tick tock it went. The seconds hand seemed to be moving at a very slow pace. She couldn't wait that long. She got up and decided to go out and eat at someplace. She went back up the stairs and changed out of her pajamas and into a pink sweater and jeans. She got some money out of her secret hiding spot which was behind her bookcase and stuffed the money in her pocket. She told Kero that she would get him some candy when she got back and left the house.

She walked down the sidewalk to the intersection of where she saw Tomoyo and Syaoran. She stopped for awhile and then walked on to the Red District. As she walked in the district, she saw a candy store and went in. she got out of the store and in her hand was a bag of candy. She stuffed it in her sweater pocket and walked on to look for food. As she walked, she saw Tomoyo and Syaoran together. Tomoyo was holding a sweater in front of her and Syaoran was shaking his head. Sakura wondered if they were going out together and then decided to follow them. She was determined to find out. She followed them into and out of stores, and walked that seemed to be hours and hours. As she followed them to another store, she tripped and made a loud squealing noise. Sakura quickly got up and ran inside the nearest store. Syaoran looked behind and saw Sakura, but he wasn't sure if it was her or not.

"What's wrong Syaoran?" asked Tomoyo.

"Uh…I think I saw Sakura. I think she's following us. I could've sworn that she's been into most of the stores that we've been to."

Tomoyo looked surprised. "Do you think she knows?"

"She couldn't have known, we never told anyone, but if it is her, I'd wanna know why she's following us. Come on, let's go to another store and see if that person or Sakura goes in." Said Syaoran.

So the two walked and Sakura came out of hiding and followed them. They walked to another store and Sakura went in too like before. As usual, Sakura kept her distance and looked at them behind a magazine. Syaoran and Tomoyo were looking at things and then Syaoran saw Sakura's reflection on a polished metal ball. They continued to look at things and then left the store. As they got out, they ran to an alley by the store and waited for Sakura to come out. Sakura came out and was wondering where they went. She lost them. She went to the stores by the store she got out of and nothing. Instead of Sakura following them, it was their turn.

"Come on, let's go talk to her." Said Syaoran. "Let's find out what she's doing."

They then got out of the alley and walked over to Sakura. "Hey Sakura!" yelled out Syaoran.

Sakura saw and became embarrassed and walked the other way but stopped because Tomoyo was walking that way too. "What are you doing?" asked Syaoran.

Sakura was quiet and then said, "What about you two? Are you together?"

Syaoran and Tomoyo were shocked and at the same time, both said "What!"

"I saw you guys hugging each other the other day and now I see you shopping in stores that couples go to." Said Sakura.

"Look, we're not together. We noticed that you looked well, kinda looked down for the last couple of days and well we wanted to cheer you up." Said Tomoyo. "And what's wrong with two friends hugging each other? We do it all the time."

Sakura became embarrassed and said, "I'm so sorry you guys. I should've known better than to think that you were together."

"It's ok. And hey we all make mistakes." Tomoyo said.

"Thanks for trying to cheering me up. I feel happy that I have friends like you guys." Said Sakura.

"Hey, why were you feeling down anyway?" asked Syaoran.

Sakura thought about it and said, "It was just worried about something that's all. I don't feel down anymore, but I do feel hungry."

"Yeah me too." Said Tomoyo. "Oh I know! Let's go to that café place that's like right by the gym."

"What! Hell no! You know how far that place is?" said Syaoran.

"Come on you. If you wanna cheer me up you can treat me and Tomoyo to food. Please?" Sakura said.

Syaoran looked at Sakura and all of a sudden, started blushing. "Fine, whatever. I'm paying for you though, not for Tomoyo." He said, as he quickly walked away to hide his face.

The girls ran to him to catch up and the two talked about things while Syaoran became quiet. They walked for an hour or so and the girls continued on talking. Syaoran still remained quiet. They walked past many shops and very expensive restaurants. They saw and walked by many more shops and restaurants and tall business buildings and one that Sakura's dad worked at. It was a tall building that was 75 stories high and had a large golden plaque that had the company's name, Yomoto Enterprises above the entrance to the building

"Hey. Didn't that one guy get fired from doing that one thing? What was it….forging documents?" Tomoyo asked.

"Yup, but I think it was bank fraud. They're having a meeting to introduce the new boss." Said Sakura.

The three eventually made it to the café and ate and of course Syaoran paid for Sakura. They spent the time sitting at a table, enjoying the scenery of the café with its painted pictures of trees in open meadows and fields and the smell of coffee and fresh bread baking across the street. The girls talked while Syaoran was quiet.

'How am I going to tell her' Syaoran thought. 'She has to know.'

As the bright and shinny day was coming to an end, they decided to leave and go home. They walked on back and left the district. By the time they got to the end, it had become night. Syaoran said good bye to the girls and the girls did the same. Tomoyo walked Sakura home.

"Hey. Thanks again for cheering me up. I feel really happy now." Said Sakura.

"You shouldn't get all the credit, thank Syaoran. It was his idea in the first place." Said Tomoyo.

Meanwhile, in the middle of the Red District of the Yomoto Enterprises, on the rooftop was a man standing in the freezing dark of night. The shadowy figured chuckled softly to himself. "Soon…" he said.


	5. Chapter 5

:**Pain**:

The morning bell had rung. Bing bong bing bong it went and so did the thousands of students who rushed to get to class and in the middle of all of it in massive mob, was Sakura with a strawberry filled pop tart in her mouth, also running to beat the second bell. 'I gotta hurry up' she thought as she ran even harder across the school yard.

She eventually made it to the entrance doors of the school, pushing her way through the rushing crowd. In the hallway, that was just as crowded as the school yard, Sakura pushed her way through just as before and made it to the stairs. She ran up the stairs and ran down the hall to her class. She opened the door and closed it shut. When she closed it, the bell had rung. She made it and shoved the rest of the pop tart in her mouth.

The room was filled posters of various things and in the front of the room was the teacher's desk and behind that was the chalk board. There were five rows and each row was composed of six desks. Sakura walked over to the end of the second to the last row which was where her seat was and saw Syaoran, who sits behind her in the last row, with his head down on the table.

"Hey wake up." Sakura said as she lightly smacked him on the head.

"Huh?" he said, as he rubbed the spot where she smacked him. "Oh morning Sakura." He said.

"Morning to you too. What's up?" she said.

"Oh nothing just tired." He said.

Tomoyo had then walked in the classroom, just coming back from the bathroom. She saw Sakura and Syaoran and walked in their direction.

"Good morning you guys!" she said to them.

"Yeah you too." Said Syaoran.

The three had talked about what they did over the weekend and other things. A tall slender man walked in the room wearing a light blue suit with a white shirt and a tie and had short light brown hair. The students got to their seats and stood by them and bowed and said good morning. He then signalled them to sit down and they did. He went up to the chalk board and wrote his name like every other morning. Mr. Terada.

"Now as many of you heard, there is a writing contest that is being sponsored by the Yomoto Enterprises and if you win, you get a hundred dollars." he said. "The winner will go to a ceremony so that you can get your prize money."

The teacher talked on and on about the contest and how to write a something good for it for most of the morning. The bell had rung and the class was dismissed for lunch. Syaoran was sleeping. Tomoyo and Sakura poked him.

"Hey you, it's time to go to lunch." Said Sakura.

"Ugh…" he groaned. "I'm tired…I'll meet you up with you guys at the basketball court."

"Ok. We'll meet up with you later." Sakura said.

The girls walked out and onto the court. Syaoran, who was half asleep now, rubbed his eyes and got up. As he got up, he saw a book that Sakura had left behind on her desk. He went over and picked up the book. He stood there, simply looking at the book and then an idea had flown into his head. He put the book back down on the desk and took out a piece of paper out of his school bag and wrote something on it. He pasued and looked at the paper and shoved it in the middle of the book, while carrying it with him to the court to meet up with the two.

"Hey you forgot your book." He said, handing the book over to Sakura.

"Oh my god! Thank you! I don't know what I would've done if I lost it. Thanks!" she said, taking the book from him.

"Uh yeah…Just don't do it again." He said.

When they were eating their lunches, Tomoyo said, "Hey. What happen at the park?"

"We don't know." Syaoran said, as he looked at Sakura, who nodded in agreement. "But we do know that we're dealing with something powerful."

After talking about what happened in the park, they finished their lunch and went to their next classes throughout the school day which were Algebra 1, English, Music, and then Gym. As the school day wore on, so did Syaoran, who was trying to stay awake. Sakura noticed and wondered what was wrong, but thought of it as nothing too serious. The school day was over and the three friends walked on home. In the back of her mind, Sakura thought about entering the contest. She got home and went up to her room and started to do the essay. The essay was to interpret a quote that was being given in the contest.

As she wrote it, she thought, 'I wonder why he was so tired today. i should call him.' She got out her cell phone from her bag and was going to dial his number, but then she changed her mind. 'Must be nothing.' She thought.

She managed to write something and asked the small yellow bear Kero, what he thought of it. She read it to him and to her surprise, he was knocked out cold.

"Wake up!" she said, as she smacked him around with her finger.

"Well I'm sorry, but it's boring." He said rubbing both of his redden cheeks.

"Grrr….Go play video games or something!" she yelled at him.

The golden afternoon soon became dusk and dusk had turned to night. The room was dark except the warm golden glow from her lamp that was on her desk. During that time, Sakura struggled with the essay. Her floor that was clean and spotless was littered with white crumpled heaps of paper that looked like a miniature dump. She kept on writing well into the night and around midnight, she had given up. She pushed her books off her bed and onto the paper landfill. A certain piece of paper fell out of a book.

She sighed and said to herself, "Ah screw this. I probably wouldn't win anyway. I'll just quit."

She was just lying on her bed for awhile, looking at the ceiling the whole time, thinking about the essay. She sat upright and got off the bed to go get ready to go to sleep since it was late. She walked around the room and picked up the balls of paper that was everywhere and threw them away in the trash can. She picked them up and then noticed the folded piece of paper. She unfolded it, wondering what it was and was a bit shocked form what it said. It simply said:

Hey Sakura, call me. We need to talk about something.

From Syaoran.


	6. Chapter 6

:**Pain**:

Sakura was pacing, back and forth, holding the note in her hands. Reading over the words again and again in her head, she sat down on her bed, wondering what to do. She sat there, thinking about it, still replaying the words in her head, "Call me." She decided to talk to him tomorrow, seeing how it was late. She put the note on her desk and changed into her pyjamas and went to bed. She was lying in her bed, thinking about the note.

She then decided to call him, but leave him a message to let him know that she had gotten the note. She got out of her bed and went for her bag that was on the floor, next to the desk. She got out her cell and dialled in Syaoran's number.

"Hey I'm not here right now, so leave a message. Yeah…." His message said. Beep.

"Hey this is Sakura. I called to tell you that I just got your note and obviously you're what, sleeping right now, so yeah… Anyways, we can talk about that thing you wanted to talk about at school, so I'll see you later ok? Ok then. Bye." she said.

She hanged up and went back to her bed. Just as she was about to go to sleep, her phone rang. She went back and saw that it was Syaoran calling. She got nervous and the phone rang two more times before she answered it. She then walked back to sit on her bed.

"Uh…Hello?" she said, nervously.

"Uh hey it's me." Syaoran said, as he was pacing in his own room. "Um…I just got your message and I thought that I should tell you right now, rather than later, because it's kind of important.

"Oh…well ok then. What is that you want to tell me?" she said.

Syaoran was quiet for a couple of seconds and then said, "I…"

"You…?" said Sakura.

He stopped pacing around his room and sighed. Then he said, "I…really-"

He was interrupted by Sakura's screaming. "Oh crap! There's a damn spider next to me!" She said as she got up and ran across the room to her door.

Syaoran was surprised and laughed. "It's just a damn spider! Kill it or something."

"Sh-shut up. It's not funny and I don't want to kill it because that's just mean." She said.

"Ok ok. Just get a tissue and grab it and throw it away." He said.

Sakura opened the door and rushed to the bathroom and got some toilet paper and went back to the room. She saw the spider and went close by it and freaked. "Oh god…" she said, in disgust.

In a quick set of moves, Sakura got enough courage and grabbed the spider with the tissue that was wrapped around her hand and quickly ran to the bathroom and threw it in the trashcan.

"Ugh…" she said, with a shudder."I got rid of it. God…today really isn't my day. First I wake up late. Almost lost my book."

"But you didn't thanks to me." He added

"Yeah thanks again. Anyways I got that spider and now I can't do the essay." As she said, sitting down on her bed, in a slump.

"Essay?" he questioned.

"Yeah. Remember that contest that Mr. Terada was talking about?" she said. "All morning?"

"I dunno. I was sleeping." Syaoran said as he yawned.

"Oh yeah you were huh. Oh I noticed that. Why were you tired today?" she said.

"Oh I was thinking about something all night." He said.

"What were you thinking about that made you stay up all night?" she asked.

"Uh…nothing. Forget about it." He said. "So I take it that you're not going to enter the contest?"

"Hell no. Too much work. I got better things to do." She said.

Syaoran chuckled a bit and said, "Ok." He walked over to his chair and sat down in it.

"Oh yeah, what did you want to tell me about?" Sakura said.

"Uh…yeah about that…I wanted to tell you…that I…" he said. Syaoran was thinking about what to say. "I…like to know if you remember about that one time when we were little. I chased you because you had my sweater?"

"Oh yeah. That was pretty fun. I ran away from you after school in the parking lot, waiting for our parents." She said. "And I still remember when we played War in 5th grade. It was me and Tomoyo against you and Namazaki. We were fighting each other over some spot during recess."

"Yeah, but then you fell and got hurt. No one was supposed to be injured. I was worried about you when you went to the nurse's office." He said.

Sakura chuckled a bit. "Oh really? That's sweet of you to think that." She said. "I still remember that one time where I just chased you during recess."

"Heh…Oh yeah I remember that. Why did you chase me anyways?" he asked.

"I really don't know. It was a long time ago. You must've called me something." she said.

"Well it's late so I should let you go to sleep." Syaoran said.

"Oh ok then. Get some sleep ok?" Sakura said.

"Ok. Oh hey, dream of moi." He said, jokingly.

Sakura laughed and then said, "Don't worry. I will. Heehee…Good night."

"Good night Sakura." He said.

"Oh I was really surprised about the note. You could've just called me you know." Sakura said.

"Uh just wanted to know about if you still remembered that's all. Yeah…" he said.

"I could never forget about those times." She said, smiling to herself.

"Yeah, good times. Anyways, night." He said.

"Night." She said.

They both hanged up and Sakura felt happy, reliving the memories, and drifted off to sleep with the thoughts of her, being chased by him to get back his sweater. Meanwhile Syaoran was sitting on his bed, slumped over. He held his phone in his hand, looking at it and tossed it onto the floor. Still slumped, he raised his head up and looked at the calendar. It was September and it had a small yellow post-it note that was right beside it. 'Tell Sakura" was written on it.

He got out of his slump and was lying on his bed. He sighed and quietly said to himself, "Still haven't told her…."


	7. Chapter 7

:**Pain**:

Hours after the two talked, the bright and cold morning light came, signalling that it was time to start the day anew. Sakura had woken up and rushed as every other morning, jumping up and down, trying to put on her socks and combing her hair. After getting her uniform on that was a white shirt with a red ribbon, complete with a skirt, she was ready for school. She ran down the stairs to only see her dad and her brother at the kitchen table, eating breakfast.

"Hey monster, bout time you woke up." Touya said, her brother.

Touya was Sakura's older brother and he cared deeply about her, but would never show it. He was rather tall and skinny and had short black hair.

She stopped walking at the entrance of the kitchen and yelled out, "I'm not a monster!"

"Hey, settle down you two and eat your breakfast." The dad said.

Fujitaka Kinomoto was their dad. He was a bit taller than Touya and also had short hair that was grey and white and wore small, circular glasses. He cared and loved Touya and Sakura very much.

"Fine…" Sakura said walking over to the table. As she walked over, she stopped by the cabinet and looked at the picture of her mom and smiled. "Good morning mom."

Her mom had passed away long ago, leaving Sakura when she was three. The dad took car of the two after all these years all alone, caring and loving for them, as their mother would've done.

"Oh, I want you two to come home early. The new president of the company picked a couple of people to get to know us better and he picked us for dinner tonight." The dad said.

"What? But I don't want to." Said Sakura, stuffing some egg in her mouth.

"Sorry dad, but I got to work. They're keeping me for a couple more hours." Touya said.

"Oh ok then, I guess it's just you and me Sakura." The dad said.

Touya had then got up from the table and said "Ok. I'm leaving now for school. Bye." He walked away and the sound of the door opening and closing filled the room.

"Do I have to be there? Can't I just be in my room?" she asked.

"No. But since Touya is not going to be here, I suppose you can bring over a friend." The dad said.

She sighed and said, "Fine. I'll bring someone over."

She finished eating and walked out. As she walked, the trees were filled with big, bright yellow, glowing orange and blazing red leaves. The leaves were being blown across the street, making it look like it the leaves were dancing in the wind, swirling around like nothing, not a care in the world, only to end when fallen to the ground. She arrived late to school, but she didn't seem to care. School was like any other day, trying to comprehend what exactly the teachers were talking about, to poking the "mystery meat" at lunch, to enduring boredom.

"Hey can you come over to my house for dinner?" Sakura asked to Tomoyo in a whisper during math class.

"Sorry I can't. I have to go somewhere." Tomoyo whispered back. "Why don't you ask Syaoran? I'm sure he'd be there."

Sakura thought about it throughout the school day and decided to ask him after school. The school finally ended and the three walked home. After both of them said good bye to Tomoyo, Sakura was left alone with Syaoran.

"Hey can I ask you something?" Sakura said.

"Yeah sure. What's up?" Syaoran said as he nodded.

"Um…I was wondering if you can come over to my house for dinner?" she said.

Syaoran was a bit taken back about what he heard. He thought about it. "Uh yeah sure. I would like to." He said. 'I can tell her after dinner.' He thought.

"Cool. Come over like around five." Sakura said.

"Uh ok. I'll comer over at five thirty." He said.

Syaoran walked Sakura home and said good bye. She went inside her home and went up to her room, only to hear beeps of video game sounds. She opened her door to her room and saw Kero playing video games, trying to get the high score as usual.

"Hey Sakura, how was school?" Kero said as he grunted, pushing numerous buttons simultaneously, unleashing combos on the opposition.

"Same old thing. Still trying to beat him?" She said, looking at the TV.

"Yeah, been going at it all day." Kero said.

"Keep at it." She said, as she walked by the TV and placed a piece of candy next to it.

Kero's face instantly lit up. "What are trying to do to me Sakura!" he said as he looked back and forth between the screen and the candy.

"Oh nothing." She said, smiling. "Ok, I have to get ready for dinner."

Kero kept on looking back and forth at the TV and the candy, in torment, choosing his goal of beating his hard and ruthless adversary or the sweet, succulent, mouth watering piece of candy. He picked the candy.

Time passed with the setting sun and Sakura was ready for dinner, wearing a small white dress. Kero was told to be quiet to avoid suspicion by the fact that no one knows about him except of course her, Syaoran, Tomoyo, Yue, Eriol, Naruka and Spindle. She went down the stairs to see her dad, and his boss waiting.

"Ah you must be Sakura, nice to meet you." The man said, holding out his hand. "My name is Ken, Ken Masasuki."

Mr. Masasuki was around six feet and had short black hair and wore a black suit and pants with a red tie. He also had small, round glasses. Sakura was a bit spooked by him. He looked like the same person in her dream three years ago.

"Uh hi…" Sakura said, as she shook his hand, looking at him in the eye.

Something eerie and peculiar was about him, the way he looked, the eyes that he had, cold and unforgiving. Just then the door bell rang and Sakura went over and opened the door. At the door was standing a very well dressed Syaoran for once. He had a white shirt with a tie and black pants.

"A tie?" Sakura said.

"What about you, a dress?" he said.

They both laughed and walked over to the table to go and eat. Syaoran introduced himself to Mr. Masasuki. They all then suited themselves at the dinner table and prepared to indulge themselves. Sakura and Syaoran sat right next to each other and the dad and the boss were across from them. The adults talked about business and such while Sakura and Syaoran were quiet. Apparently Syaoran wasn't really eating much.

"Oh I'm sorry, but it seems that I have something to take care of. It was nice meeting you two" he said, looking at Syaoran and Sakura. "Thank you for dinner. I had a pleasant time and I hope to see you bright and early tomorrow morning."

Sakura's dad nodded and walked with him out the door. Sakura and Syaoran remained seated, doing nothing and being quiet.

"Uh I probably should go now. It is almost eight." Syaoran said.

"Um ok. I'll walk you home." Sakura said.

"Oh no you don't have to." He said.

"No I insist." She said.

They both got up and walked over to the door and went outside. It was a chilly evening and the stars were coming to. They walked over to his house, talking about things, laughing and giggling at each others jokes. They made it at the front of his house and stopped.

"I wished it would snow." Sakura said, spreading her arms out and twirling in circles, looking up at the sky. A shooting star had gone flying across the night sky. "Hey look! A shooting star. Make a wish."

"Nah that's ok. You already came true." He said with a smile.

Sakura laughed. Then all of a sudden she had a look of disgust on her face. "Uh Syaoran, did you fart? Cause you blow me away!" she said.

They both laughed into the night. They both looked up at the sky and the stars. "Hey you uh looked beautiful tonight." He said, still looking up at the night sky.

Sakura turned slightly pink and said, "Thanks. So do you, with your tie and all."

Syaoran blushed slightly. "I guess I'll see you later." He said.

"Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow. Oh and hey, dream of moi." She said.

He grinned and said, "I will. Good night."

She walked away and Syaoran stood there, watching her walk away. As she disappeared, he looked up at the sky again. After awhile, he went inside and it was half past nine. He went up the stairs and into his room. He slowly walked over to his bed and jumped on it, lying on his stomach. He eventually drifted off to sleep until twelve fourteen, when he was awaked by the sound of the doorbell. He sluggishly got up and went down the stairs and to the door and opened it.

To his surprise, there in the doorway, was a girl, holding her bags. "Meiling…" he said.


	8. Chapter 8

:**Pain**:

"What are you doing here?" Syaoran asked Meiling.

Meiling was standing at the doorway and had dark black hair that went to her shoulders and had buns on both sides of her head. She wore a light blue shirt and shorts with black and white sneakers.

"Came by to visit duh. Weren't you paying attention when I called you?" she said, while sticking out her tongue at him.

Syaoran completely ignored it and said, "Oh yeah. It must've slipped my mind cause of you know about-"

"Yeah...Have you told her yet?" she interrupted.

"Nah. Not yet." He said, looking down on the floor.

"Come on tell her. Are you even gonna tell her? Cause if you're not, then I can tell her."

Syaoran shook his head and said, "No I should tell her. I'm her best friend so yeah, I feel that I should be the one to."

"Ok ok. Hey come on, let me in." she said, as she walked past by him and up the stairs, leading to his room.

He closed the door and walked up with her up to his room. The butler came out of his room, sleepy, in response of the belated sound of the doorbell.

"Ah Miss Li, it's a pleasure to see you." He said, as he slightly bowed. "I take it that you shall be staying here with us over the next few weeks."

"Thank you. The pleasure is mine and yes I will. I believe that that his mother has told you of this?"

He nodded and said, "Yes. I'm sorry, but I believe that we haven't prepared a room for your early arrival."

Syaoran interrupted and said, "She'll be sleeping in my room."

"Ah very well then. And where shall you be sleeping good sir?" he asked.

"Don't worry about me." Syaoran said.

"Very well. I shall take those bags of yours and put them else where." He said, holding out his hands.

Meiling gave him her bags and things and he went back into his room. "Good night. And try to get some rest. It's a school day tomorrow, after all, education is a virtue"

Syaoran and Meiling both said good night and went up to his room. They got in and it was rather a spotless room. The bed was placed in the middle of the room against the wall with his desk to the right of it. At the foot of the bed was his dresser and table for his TV. To the left of the bed was the clear glass sliding door leading up to the balcony.

"Hey what's that?" she said pointing to his desk that had a teddy bear with a ribbon tied around its neck.

"Oh it's something for Sakura for Christmas. Something I got ahead of time you know." He said.

She giggled to herself and said in a teasing voice, "You like her…You love her…."

"Shut up." He said, blushing.

"She laughed and said, "Ok ok. Calm down. Hey come on, let's go to the old playground."

"What! Why? It's like hella late. And I'm tired dammit!" he said.

"Yeah so?" she said. "If you don't, then I'll tell Sakura that you-"

"NO! I'll go! I'll go!" he screamed, rushing over to the dresser and took out a black sweater that had a hood, some black pants and a pair of white socks.

It took him completely thirty seconds to get ready. They both walked over the glass door and opened it and closed it softly. They then jumped off the railing of the balcony onto a tree branch and climbed down from that and preceded on walking over to the old playground of where they used to play at with Sakura and Tomoyo when they were little. It was a cold night and the starry sky had changed to what was an ocean of stars to a big thick mass of clouds. It was strange seeing it for the both of them, as it was a sign that something was going to happen.

They made it to small and hidden park that was surrounded by trees all around. The park had swings to the side. There was also a yellow box that had misshapen holes and figurines of penguins of various colors all around. However, the eye catching part of the playground was the giant blue statue of the penguin that had a golden crown on top of its head and a slide that came out of its mouth. They walked over to the slide and sat down. They sat for a long time.

The wind blew a chilling cold and Syaoran said, "It's been a long time since we've been here."

"Yup." She said, as she was holding her sweater, trying to be warm.

"How's Hong Kong?" he asked.

"It's ok. Just the same old stuff you know, school, homework, martial arts…" she said.

"Oh hey, why are you here anyway?" Syaoran asked, putting his hands in his pockets.

"The reason I'm here is to tell you and Sakura something. Something is going on here and we can all be in danger."

"Danger of what?" he asked.

"We don't know yet, but we felt something a couple of days ago back in Hong Kong. There's something powerful now." She said.

"Hmm…a couple days ago also, me and Sakura-"

"Wait…Something just doesn't feel right." She interrupted.

"What do you mean?" he questioned.

"It's too quiet." She said.

After she said that, the slide had started to shake. They immediately jumped off seeing what was happening. The statue began to move. The sounds of the rusted metal, groaning, echoed throughout. The bolts that held it, erupted out of the ground, making it walk. It started to move the slide that was coming out of its mouth, trying to hit both of them, but failed, just barely grazing their lower leg. Then the small penguin figurines came to life and floated in the air and circled around the giant penguin.

"What the hell is going on!" Meiling yelled to Syaoran.

"It's another summon!" He said, pointing to the giant penguin.

On the statue in front glowed an ominous yellow of characters that were the same as before in the park with the boy.

"Another!" she yelled out.

"Yeah another." He yelled out. He grabbed his amulet and his sword appeared just as before. "Talk later, fight now!"

Suddenly, the figurines zoomed to Meiling. Meiling punched them to bits, laying blows on them. Another set of them went to Syaoran and he sliced and diced them with his sword. Even though there were only a few figurines, it seemed that the giant one was making more of them. Much more. Both were heavily under attacked and distracted, especially Meiling, who was absorb into the figurine massacre, to notice the giant one coming towards the fighting duo.

"I can do this all day!" she yelled out, destroying two more. "Bring it on!"

Both of them were fighting, hard for their lives and the giant statue crept toward to Meiling. The statue's massive weight was shattering the earth below it with each step it took. It slowly turned around, moving its slide again. Syaoran saw and jumped out of the way while slashing two more figures. Meiling was wrapped into what she was doing to not notice. The statue somehow managed to lift itself, causing the slide to go up in the air. The long slide moved above where Meiling was standing. She didn't notice. The figurines that she was fighting spread outward, out of the way of the oncoming slide attack.

"Meiling!" Syaoran screamed.

Meiling was too slow to notice what was coming and looked up. Bam.


	9. Chapter 9

:**Pain**:

Bam. Meiling's uppercut had blocked the oncoming attack. She got pissed. In a rage, she kicked the left side of the slide, hard. All her power in that single kick ripped the slide off of the penguin and flew like a bullet. The beat up slide slammed against one of the trees that surrounded the playground. The tree broke in half. Meiling stood there, huffing and puffing, with her fists to her side.

"Bitch! Hell no!" Meiling yelled out, running towards the penguin.

The figures came at Syaoran. He stood his ground, using his sword. Meiling went straight towards the big penguin. The figurines also went to her, but using the back of her hand, swung her arms, hitting them like nothing in all directions. She got close and jumped high into the sky all the way to the top of the penguin's head. She threw a punch at the very core of its head. As her punched landed, large and long cracks were formed. She landed on top of the beak, the part that held the slide together and she whacked the crown causing it, like the slide, to fly across the place, smashing another tree down.

"Argh! Take that and that!" she said as she continued on punching its head down to nothing.

She jumped back to the ground and went for the body. Meiling ran around it, hitting it, each punch, decimating it to nothingness. The penguin was filled with huge cracks, holes that were fist shaped and more cracks all around. Syaoran continued on slashing. It seemed that the figures were all coming to him now, flying around in circles and surrounding him. Meiling laid the finishing blow in front of the penguin, where the yellow characters glowed.

"Take that you bastard!" she said as she punched it squarely in the middle.

It cracked and the whole thing fell apart like a building being demolished. The big statue of a penguin had become a heap of rubble and metal, becoming nothing. As it collapsed, the figures had stopped flying and floating and all went to the ground also. All that was left was a mess of chaos and standing on top of it like champions that were on top of the world were two people, exhausted and sore.

"It's over…" Syaoran said as he panted, leaning against his sword that was struck in the rubble.

"What…the hell…was that…all about?" Meiling said, panting as she fell down on the rubble.

"It's a long story. I'll tell you later, after we get some sleep. Come on, let's go." He said.

He took out his sword and pulled Meiling up, grabbing her by the arm. They both walked away from the pile and on to his house.

"What are we gonna do about the mess?" she asked, still panting and rubbing her sore hands.

"Uh I don't know." He laughed. "Let's just leave before someone knows."

Just then they heard a loud noise and turned around to see what was happening. The leftover figurines floated up again. The figurines all combined together, stacked on top of each other forming something. They all came together to form a twelve foot penguin. Instead of wings on the sides as a regular penguin, it was a pair of arms. It roared into the night. The house lights went on throughout the neighborhood and car alarms went off.

"Damn it!" she yelled out. "What the hell!"

The huge penguin walked over to the shattered tree that was struck by the slide. It picked up the slide, crushing the end of it and held it in its right hand, brandishing it like a sword.

"You got any plans?" Syaoran said, as he looking up at the seemingly tall behemoth.

"Nope, I was hoping you would have one." She said, patting him on the back.

"Heheheh…Come on, let's beat the crap out of it." He said holding up his sword.

They both slowly staggered in the direction to where it was. The penguin swung the slide at them and they dodged the attack. Quickly, Meiling ran up the right arm as it was still down on the ground from the attack. She ran up all the way to its shoulders and jumped off, kicking at the head. As she kicked it, she managed to knock off a couple of figures.

"BOO YAH!" she yelled out.

Meiling landed next to Syaoran and the big penguin took another swing at them. Luckily, even after being tired from the previous bout, they managed to elude it once again. But something was rather unusual about the penguin. In the middle of its body, something was glowing.

"I think that's it right there." Meiling said, pointing at the center.

She ran in front of it and jumped and punched it. She managed to land a couple of hits. It swung at Meiling who was still in the air, coming back to the ground. She managed to block it with her arms, but still got damaged. She flew across the area to the top of the trees, hitting branches and sticks in her way. She fell down to the ground scratched, bruised and bleeding. Her sweater was filled with opened redden slits of various sizes, small to exceptionally large.

"Crap…" she muttered, as she tried to get up.

"Are you ok!" he yelled at her.

"Ugh…I'll be ok. Go…" She said.

He nodded and went straight for the legs and sliced them, only to do not a whole lot of damage as he expected he would. Syaoran then backed away from the penguin as it was coming towards him. As he backed away, he looked at Meiling, who was struggling to get up and continue fighting. Suddenly he tripped over a rock and fell over on his back. He scrambled to get back up and saw that it was holding the slide over his head. He stood in fear, wondering if this was it. Just then, thoughts of Sakura came to his head, thoughts of her, and the things that they did together, the memories that would be left behind if he died right there.

"No." he said, standing still. "I will not end it like this…not until she knows..."

He took out a piece of paper and threw it in the air. Quickly, he shifted his sword in front of him, sideways, and pressed it against the paper that was falling. At the same time, the penguin's slide was coming down on Syaoran. "**_God of Thunder_**!" he yelled out.

Large bolts of lighting came out of the middle of the paper, hitting the right shoulder of the penguin. It pierced the shoulder like it was being skewered by an arrow. It erupted, having the whole arm coming off, causing it to fall apart altogether, right next to Syaoran. The impact of the fallen arm was big, like it shook the world, but he didn't even flinch from it. It was like nothing could stop him, like he was renewed. Thoughts of Sakura still filled his head and walked forward to the penguin with his sword in his hand. He still had a chance.


	10. Chapter 10

:**Pain**:

Syaoran walked alone towards the giant penguin. The penguin used its left arm to hit Syaoran but only to fail. He saw the oncoming attack and quickly rolled to the right. After he rolled, he slashed the arm of the penguin. The blade cut the wrist of the arm. Just then, he took out another yellow piece of paper.

"**_God of Thunder_**!" he yelled out.

The lighting hit in the center, going right through it just like with the right arm before. It roared as there was a big gapping hole in the middle of its rounded body. The penguin itself suddenly started falling apart, looking like it was melting. But then, using of what was left of it, it raised its decomposing left arm to take Syaoran down with him. Syaoran was startled by this, still using thunder on it. The arm broke off completely, raining down the figurines on him. He couldn't defend himself. He closed his eyes and waited for it.

"**_Shield_**!" yelled out a girl's voice.

Syaoran was covered by an invisible barrier that protected him. He turned around to see Sakura, wearing a pink cardigan sweater and grey sweats.

"What's going on?" Sakura asked.

"I don't know, but its damn over." Syaoran said. "Go see how Meiling is doing."

Sakura looked around and saw her leaning against a tree. She ran over to her but then stopped. She felt the same thing she and Syaoran felt when entering the park. It slowly became colder and colder.

"Crap…what now?" Syaoran and Meiling said together.

Sakura looked at both of them wondering what they were talking about and saw something. A few feet behind Syaoran was a small pool of water that was coming out of the ground and got bigger and bigger. They all stared at it as it grew. Then a watery blob came out of the puddle and slowly crystallized from the increasingly frigid air. Standing in the puddle was a huge icy person. Water was shot out of the puddle and instantly froze the figure grabbed it. It was a long frozen icicle and held it as a spear. Police sirens went off in the distance.

"**_Time_**!" Sakura yelled out as she held out a card.

Everything looked like it all turned into a shade of a golden yellow. It was all quiet and only the sounds that could be heard were Meiling's heavy breathing. Time had stopped completely. The icy figure stood with its spear above his head over and threw it at Syaoran's back. Sakura stood in panic.

"Syaoran!" she cried out.

He turned away and saw it coming towards him and swung his sword rather sluggishly to block it. He managed to block but falling to the ground on his knees in the process. Sakura was terrified. She ran towards him and so did the icy being, which walked over to him.

"**_Dash_**!" Sakura yelled out.

She zoomed across the place fast like a speeding car at 100 MPH grabbing Syaoran before he got struck. She couldn't hold him up by his weight and tripped, causing the two the fall on the ground rolling a bit. Sakura got up and so did Syaoran who was helped by Sakura.

"Are you ok? Can you fight?" Sakura asked Syaoran.

"Yeah and yeah. Let's go." He said.

They both looked at the icy figure and saw that it raised its right arm up. The growing puddle of water gushed out again and made a pure frozen ax that flew at the figure, catching it, with its right arm. They both looked in horror at the immensely size of the ax as the figure walked slowly from the weight of it. It swung its other hand, grabbing the bottom of the ax, making it look like it was ready to strike them. They both stood there, still in horror but got out of it and then Syaoran came falling to the ground.

"Syaoran, come on get up!" Sakura said as she pulled him up.

As he got back up, he went back to the ground. The figure that carried with it a weapon of death got closer to both of them.

"Sakura go. Run!" Syaoran yelled at her, as she tried to help him back up.

"No I won't leave you here." She said.

The figure swung the ax above its head and then suddenly came crashing down. Meiling had jumped over and punched it, making break, saving both of them. The figure was caught off guard and then went straight for Meiling, who had fallen to the ground from her injures and fatigue. Sakura managed to get him up again and took out two cards.

"**_Shield_**! **_Fiery_**!" Sakura yelled out.

Flames shot out of nowhere to the figure who was standing over Meiling. It melted it into nothing but a steaming pool of water and bubbles. Meiling was protected from the blazing inferno by an invisible barrier just as before with Syaoran. But then another icy figure had appeared over big puddle of water and with it was a spear. They all then knew that the source of this icy beings was the puddle. It ran over to Meiling with the spear over its head ready to throw it at her.

"Meiling watch out!" Syaoran yelled.

It was straight for her. She couldn't move but then she collapsed on the ground, causing the spear to miss her.

"Sakura go distract it away from her." Syaoran said.

She nodded and ran at it preparing a strike with her wand. She swung her wand and it went thump as it hit the back of its head making small cracks. She got its attention and it turned around to go attack her instead. It tried to punch her but she jumped back and took out another card.

"**_Fight_**!" She yelled out.

The figure ran at her as Sakura went into a fighting stance. She fought as if she was trained all her life. She dodged and parried attacks like nothing, attacking with a flurry of punches and kicks.

"**_God of Thunder_**!" Syaoran yelled out.

The electrifying thunder went past the girls and the figure and straight to the puddle. It crackled and spewed water. The figure groaned and roared. It grabbed its chest as if it were trying to breathe and walked around drunkenly, staggering around. It slowly melted and became all disfigured and turned into a big watery blob with chunks of ice sticking out. It came crashing down on the ground, melting to nothing.


	11. Chapter 11

:**Pain**:

They all looked at the spot where the puddle that made those icy beings with a sigh of relief. Sakura and Meiling stood there catching their breath while Syaoran did the same thing as he leaned on his sword. Syaoran had noticed that the dried up puddle had a rather familiar piece of paper that was brunt.

"What is that?" Meiling asked.

"It's a summoning talisman. Sakura and I saw one at the park awhile ago." Syaoran said.

Meiling had a puzzled look on her face. "What? But only someone strong enough can do that and besides who can do such a thing?" Meiling said.

"We don't know." Sakura said with a shrug.

"Maybe this is the thing that we're all in danger from." Meiling said. "A new force of some kind."

"Well I don't know if this matters but at dinner tonight, I noticed something weird about this one guy. He was the same person in my dream." Sakura said.

"Yeah. I kinda felt weird by him also." Syaoran said.

"Hm…well it can't be purely coincidental, I mean come on, the same guy in your dream and the weird feelings from him." Meiling said.

"Yeah it just can't be." Sakura said.

"What should we do?" Syaoran asked.

"No idea. Train I suppose to get ready for whatever it is." Meiling said.

"Girl that's all you ever want to do." Syaoran said.

"What? Not all the time." Meiling said.

Then a rustling sound came from the bushes. They all turned around to see what it was. All they saw was nothing.

"What was that?" Sakura said.

Then it happened again a few feet away from them.

"There it is again!" Sakura said.

Just then a creature of some sort jumped out and stood there, growling, showing its razor teeth. It was a big oversized wolf that was dark black with dark red eyes. It howled and then started running to the girls. Sakura and Meiling saw it and didn't know what to do.

"What is that!" Meiling yelled out.

"Don't know but let's run while we can." Sakura yelled out.

They both started on running and the wolf was chasing them.

"**_God of Thunder_**!" Syaoran yelled out.

It had hit the wolf making it stopped within feet of the girls. It flinched as it was hit but then shook it off. Syaoran couldn't believe it. It wouldn't work against it. The girls had time to get away and did. They split up in two directions, Sakura going left, Meiling in the other. The wolf still standing still started to howl a bit. The three looked it as it started to shake violently. Unbelievably it had split in two. Each went after the girls.

"**_Sword_**!" Sakura yelled out.

She looked back and saw that the wolf was catching up to her. Meiling was trying to climb up a tree and succeeded. The wolf that was chasing Sakura was within reach of her and she turned around. The wolf jumped at her. She had dodged it and ran again. The wolf tired jumping at her again, but only to fail once more. Sakura was lucky enough to find an opening to kick the wolf in the face and quickly went in and stabbed it on the side deeply. It howled in pain, as it fell to the ground. The other wolf that was after Meiling had stopped trying to knock her out of the tree and went towards Sakura instead.

"Sakura watch out! Behind you!" he yelled out.

Sakura turned around in time to see it coming towards her. She took her sword out of the wounded wolf and moved out of the way. The wolf that chased her moved to where she was. It wouldn't stop going after her.

"**_God of Thunder_**!" Syaoran yelled out. Nothing had happened. He was shocked about it. He tried again. "**_God of Thunder_**!" It was the same as it was before. Nothing still had happened. "Dammit…I can't use magic anymore."

Sakura was in trouble. But then Meiling had gotten out of the tree and yelled out random things. The wolf had stopped and went after Meiling instead.  
Sakura called on **_Dash_** and ran after the wolf. She ran to the side of the animal and stabbed it. Squish her sword went. She stabbed it again and again to kill it. After four good strikes she had beaten it. The other wolf was behind Sakura. Meiling had fallen to the ground by tripping over a rock and Sakura went to help her out. The wolf ran to Sakura. Each step it took, blood oozed and dripped out of it, leaving a long trail of red behind it.

"Sakura!" Syaoran yelled out.

Sakura had gotten Meiling up and turned around as she heard her name. She saw it coming towards her and wasn't ready to counterattack. The wolf suddenly jumped up, going to attack her.

"No!" he yelled out. "**_God of Thunder_**!"

This time it worked. A blaze of thunder came at the wolf, hitting it exactly where it was stabbed. The thunder was more powerful than it was ever before. It howled and roared as it was being zapped. Its body smoked and sizzled. It was dead.

Syaoran had let go of his sword. It fell down right next to him. His body became cold and he fell down to the ground on his knees. He couldn't see. His vision became all blurry. All he could see was two blobs and tried to make out of what they were but it had gotten worse as it slowly became dark. As he tried to make out of what it was, he could finally see that it was only Sakura and Meiling. He tried to raise his right hand up.

"…Sakura…" he whispered softly.

The sight of her and Meiling disappeared, engulfed within the blackness. Everything was black. His right hand was inches off the ground but plummeted back on down. And so did the rest of him.


	12. Chapter 12

-1:**Pain**:

As Syaoran was lying on the ground not moving, Sakura ran to him while Meiling walked over. Sakura ran to him and went on the ground. She moved him onto his back and he still didn't move. A small drool of red dripped out of the side of his mouth. She freaked out and started to shake him on his chest.

"Wake up!" Sakura cried out as she still shook him.

Meiling came over and looked at him. She slowly sat next to Sakura. Minutes passed and still he didn't move or wake up. Sakura's eyes were starting to be watery. She continued on while Meiling put her hand on her back. Sakura didn't know what to think, was he dead?

"Sakura…" Meiling said in a sad voice.

"Syaoran!" Sakura cried out.

Slowly, he opened up his eyes only to see that everything was white. He continued on lying there wondering what had happened. He sat upright and looked around. He became a bit startled as he looked down. The ground was gone only to be replaced by white. It looked like he was floating in thin air.

"Where am I?" he said to himself.

He got up and looked around noticed that his sword was gone. He turned around and still saw nothing. He stood there looking around but only seeing white that seemingly went on for miles and miles. It really was a sea of white. Then he heard a small faint of crying. It was a girl's cry.

"Please…" the faintly sobbing voiced said.

'Is that Sakura?' he thought. "Sakura!" he yelled out. "Where are you?"

He started to move to the sound of the cry but stopped quickly. He looked down at the white space wondering if it was safe to walk. He took another step and nothing happened. He was relieved and started running towards the cry. As he ran the sound started to get louder and it became clearer.

"Sakura?" he yelled out again.

Nothing happened. He continued on running and then stopped. He saw something in to the distance of the sea of white. It was a person. He ran faster, harder at the person hoping it was her. As he got closer he started to run slower. He saw that it wasn't her, but a small little girl kneeling down crying. He had stopped running as he was a few feet from the sobbing girl. He stood there for awhile, listening to the girl cry more.

"Are you ok?" he said.

The girl quickly got up and turned around looking at Syaoran. Her black hair had covered her tears that were running down on her face. She shook her head and wiped her tears with her sleeve of her purple kimono.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

The small little girl finally spoke and said, "There was a bad man. Please you have to help!"

She grabbed his left hand and started to run, dragging him along. He wasn't sure where they were going, as it was nothing but white. It seemed like they weren't getting anywhere. He continued on running with the little girl and they stopped. He looked around and didn't see the point of where they were.

"Where's the bad man?" he asked.

The little girl stood turning around to look at him. She had an expression on her face that was puzzled much like Syaoran.

She turned her back again and raised her right hand. "He's over there." she said as she pointed at the white space in front of her.

A strong gust of wind came and tons of leaves her being blown across the white. Syaoran had to cover himself while the girl stood there normally, untouched by it. More leaves had been blown and then grass had appeared at the bottom of their feet and zoom across the opened space, covering the white with luscious green. A small wall of stones appeared and a small narrow river also. Syaoran looked up and saw that the white up there had disappeared to be covered with blue.

"Come on." The girl said as she tugged on his arm.

They ran again and apparently to a town in the distance with a mountain in front of it that had smoke flew across the top. He sensed that there was danger.

"What happened?" he asked the girl.

"A bad man came and did horrible things. He hit people and they were hurt. Please save us." She said.

"But what can I do?" he asked. "I don't even have my sword"

"Yes you do." She said.

He was confused about what she had said but then it seemed like he had gotten heavy especially on his back. He moved his left hand to his back and felt cold hard steel. His sword was on his back. They ran on to the town and saw that it was burning

"Come on we need to go." the little girl said.

They finally reached the bruning town to see people, but rather as statues of stone with fear and panic. The fire was everywhere, burning old wooden houses, bars, the inns, the bodies that laid still were everywhere. Syaoran stood there looking at the chaos that was ensuing, but the little girl was tugging on his sleeve in a direction. He slightly nodded and ran in the direction with the little girl with him.

"They came out of nowhere and started attacking." she said.

They had made it to the middle of the town and there were many more bodies but they were different from the ones that they had saw earlier. They were big giant beings that were a darkish red and had horns of different sizes and wings that had a purplish liquid coming out of them. Syaoran grabbed his sword that was on his back and held it in his hands. He went to look at the little girl but she had disappeared. On top of the pile of bodies were two men. One was holding a long metal staff that had a crescent moon and a sun on top of it while the other had a long, big sword in his hands.

"Its him, I can't believe it, Clow Reed." Syaoran said.

The other man had swung his sword and created a whirlwind that was parallel to the ground and went straight for the Clow Reed. Syaoran looked at the other man who seemed familiar but he couldn't see clearly as it was getting blurry. His head had started to hurt. He dropped his sword onto the ground and clutched his head. It had started to get worse and soon enough fell to the ground on his knees.

"Die Clow Reed!" the man had yelled out.

It looked like he had been hit, but rather he wasn't there. Clow Reed had disappeared and suddenly appeared again behind the man. He jumped back and did something with his hands and a blaze of fire had appeared out of nowhere. The fire hit the man and he turned around and jumped high and landed on top of a roof of a burning house. He did the same as Clow with his hands and thunder shot out. Clow Reed dodged it, jumping backwards from where it was going to hit.

The fighting continued while Syaoran was holding his head, in pain. It became unbearable for him. He tightly closed his eyes and soon, he fully collapsed on the ground. He laid there for what seemed like a long time. He still his eyes closed but the pain from his head was starting to go away. He opened up his eyes and saw not the burning town or the whiteness that he had encountered, but only pitch black.

'Am I dead?' he thought.

But then he felt something. He felt a small wetness of some sort somewhere around his stomach. He moved his hands to the area and it was a small wet spot. But for some reason it started to grow bigger. The coldness that he had felt from the pitch blackness became warm. The wetness still continued on grow and so the warmth. It started to become brighter and also it became more warmer. He closed his eyes again, trying to remember what it was. He opened up his eyes and saw Sakura on top of his stomach crying.

"Hey…" he said.

Sakura had sat upright and so did he. She wiped her tears away and leaned over quickly and hugged him tightly. She buried her face into his neck and didn't let go. He held her as she still cried.


	13. Chapter 13

-1:**Pain**:

Syaoran stood alone outside of rusted old gate that surrounded the house that had a lawn that was dried up, shingles that were falling apart, the paint peeling off the walls. He stood outside for a moment, still he couldn't get rid of that creepy feeling that he would always have when coming to this place. He snapped out of it and opened the gate and walked along the cracked concrete to the porch that creaked and groaned up to the bronzed door.

"Damn Eriol…Why the hell do you have to live here?" he said to himself with a small shudder at the end.

As he was inches apart from the door, it opened by itself into a dark room. He went inside and the door closed by itself and he stared down the darkened hallway to the dimly golden glow that eclipsed the door at the end. He walked down the darkened the hallway and opened the door. Inside he barely made out the people, but from the glow of the fireplace showed that Naruka was lying down on the red old couch and on top of her that looked like Kero but was a blacken color instead of a golden yellow, sitting above her chest. But most importantly was a small

"Naruka, Spinel please leave." Eriol said.

"What? Why?" Naruka and Spinel both said.

Eriol moved his head to the direction of the couch and looked at both of them. They moved almost instantly. They both left and Syaoran was told to sit down by Eriol. Syaoran slowly walked over looking around the room, bookcases filled with highly educated books and a table in the middle with a very old telephone sitting on top of it.

"Hm…I'm surprised that Sakura isn't here with you." Eriol said.

"Uh yeah she doesn't know that I'm talking to you here." he said.

"I suppose that you would want to know about _him_?"

"Yeah. Who is he and why is going after Sakura and why-" he said.

"One at a time Syaoran." he interrupted. "All will be answered in time."

Syaoran became quiet and Eriol didn't say anything more. Syaoran stared at him, his hands folded that were next to his mouth, his cold dark blue eyes that were behind his glasses still rattled Syaoran. It looked like Eriol was in thought of thinking what to say next.

"He's a dangerous man." Eriol finally said. "A dangerous and most powerful man. He's a very powerful sorcerer utilizing magical properties with swordsmanship." He pushed up his glasses that were slipping off.

Syaoran looked at him in disbelief. He couldn't really believe what he was saying. He stopped looking at him and to the floor. He saw that it hadn't been clean for a long time.

"He's after Sakura because she controls the cards now. I'm no longer the enemy anymore."

"Wait though, if he's powerful, shouldn't you be also powerful enough to stop him." Syaoran asked.

"No. It is Sakura's fight now."

Syaoran stood up immediately and said, "How can you say that? Can't you beat him, you are the reincarnation of Clow Reed!"

"It's her fight now!" Eriol said with a little anger in his voice. "She controls the cards now. Not me anymore."

Syaoran stood there with both of his hands clenched into a fist. He looked at Eriol with anger and he stared back with his cold eyes. For a long time it was like that. Syaoran was getting answers to his questions, but answers that he didn't like. He finally loosened his fists and sat back down on the couch.

"How…do you beat him?" Syaoran asked.

"There is no way that you can beat him. He will not stop until he crushes Sakura and completely destroy the cards."

Syaoran became a little bit sad and mad after hearing that. "So there is no way that we can beat him?" he asked Eriol.

"There is one way and only one way. You can only beat him with only with raw strength. Pure unrivaled strength." Eriol said. "And nothing else."

Syaoran looked at the floor again and then switched his view to him. Syaoran still continued on not believing what he was hearing.

"He won't kill you yet. He is a man of honor and pride and only wants to fight someone with his superior strength that can be matched. If he wanted to, he would've ended this a long time ago."

"Is that the only way?" he asked.

"Yes. The only way and nothing else."

Syaoran had enough. He didn't like the answers that he was getting and decided to leave. He got up and headed straight for the door.

"Trying to protect her?" Eriol asked.

Syaoran stopped walking and stood still. He thought about that question, searching deep within himself. "Yes." he finally said. "I care about her." Syaoran looked at Eriol and then went for the door again.

"Syaoran wait." Eriol said. "There is one thing that you should know…"

Syaoran left the room and the hallway and the old house. He had a look on his face of anger. He walked down the street and on to his house. He didn't think of nothing but the trouble that would be ahead in time. He walked for a long time was almost to his house. 'I have to train…have to keep that promise.' he thought. But that thought was interrupted by a voice calling him. He looked back and saw that it was Sakura with a plate of food in her hands.

"Hey Syaoran!" Sakura yelled out. "Wait up. I got some food from Tomoyo's birthday party."

His face was no longer full of anger. But filled with happiness and a small smile. "Hey how was the party?" he asked.

"It was alright. Meiling was like crazy though and all this other stuff happened. Rika brought the most presents and most the most food. Can you believe it? Oh how was your check up at the doctor?"

He didn't know what she was talking about for a second, remembering that he needed an excuse to talk to Eriol. "Uh it was alright." he said.

She continued on talking about the party while Syaoran, in the back of his mind was thinking of what Eriol had said to him at the end before he was leaving, "…If you stand in his way, you will be killed."


	14. Chapter 14

:**Pain**:

"Promise me Syaoran."

"What?"

"Come on! Promise me that you'll save me whenever I'm in trouble!"

"Fine fine."

"Yay. Come on now pinky swear that you will. Ok now, say that you promise that whenever I'm in trouble, you'll come to save me."

"I always keep my promises..."

Syaoran woke up. It was dark and cold. He laid in bed on his stomach and looked at the clock that was on the desk next to him. It read five thirty seven a.m. He groaned and sat himself upright and grabbed his head with his right hand. He sat like that for awhile and got up and putted on a sweater and sweats. He went over to his desk and took out a post it note and written something on it. He held the post it with him as he walked over to his calendar that was December and placed the note on to the side of it that was filled with about a dozen other post it notes that all said the same thing, "Tell Sakura" circled around. He sighed and walked out the door and outside of his house. He stood out on the street and looked around at the black night.

"Another day…" he said.

He started to move slowly with the snow crunching beneath his feet with each step that he took. He started to move faster slowly and was jogging down the street. He went jogging for a long time. After the sun had finally came up, Syaoran was at the front of his house after having jogging for miles. He walked in and took off his sweater and walked over to the garage. He went and picked up his sword and practiced all day.

"I haven't seen Syaoran lately." Sakura said on the phone. "But when I do, it seems like he's really tried."

"Well its like he said, he's busy with things right? Isn't that what he said?" Tomoyo said to Sakura.

"Yeah…but he just seems...different now." Sakura said. "I'm just kinda worried."

Tomoyo sighed a bit and said, "I think that there is something you should know."

Sakura was a bit surprised about hearing this and said, "What? What is it?"

"I…He…Syao…I...am having a party at my place. I will invite him to go." Tomoyo said.

"A party? Really?

"Uh yeah. A Christmas party." Tomoyo said.

"Ok then. Heh, I can't wait." Sakura said. "Bye Tomoyo. Better make him go."

"Don't worry. I will. Bye."

Days later it was the big Christmas party that Tomoyo had made in a short time. The doorbell rang and Tomoyo went over to open the door and saw that it was Sakura with food. She let her in and Sakura put the food in the kitchen. Moments later, Rika and Thiharu came and soon more people came too. Most of everyone from their class was there, everyone except for Syaoran.

"Where is he?" Sakura asked Tomoyo.

"I don't know. He should be here." Tomoyo said. "I asked him to go and he said that he would. Maybe he's just running a little late that's all."

"I hope so." Sakura said.

"Come on. He'll be here." Tomoyo said..

Hours passed and the party went on and so did the day. The sun was starting to go down and so did the hopes of Sakura. Syaoran didn't wasn't there. People started to leave, but many still stayed. People danced. Others were eating. Some were listening to the so called "true" stories that Namazaki was telling. Everyone was enjoying the party, all except Sakura, who stood there looking at everybody having fun.

"Where is he?" she quietly said to herself.

It became dark and the party was still going on. Half of the people left and the other half were still eating and some were dancing still. Tomoyo walked over to Sakura who was on the couch and sat with her. Tomoyo handed her the present that Sakura was going to give Syaoran for Christmas since he was suppose to be here.

"What's this for?" Sakura said.

"Well aren't you going to give it to him?"

"He's not here." Sakura said sadly.

"Sakura, look." Tomoyo said, pointing out the backyard.

There he was. Syaoran was standing outside, looking up at the stars alone. Sakura couldn't believe what she was seeing. He was there. He had shown up. She grabbed the present and walked over to the glass door. She looked at him while he still looked at the stars. She opened up the door and closed it and walked over to him.

"Hey." Sakura said.

He turned around and looked at Sakura. "Oh hey." He said.

"How long have you been here?" she asked.

"I just got here. Sorry to have kept you waiting." He said. "I guess I just overslept. I was like tired so I went to sleep and I guess I slept through the alarm."

"Well how come you've been tired?" she said. "I've just noticed that you've been really tried lately."

"I've been just really busy. But hey what's that?"

"Uh…here it's a present from me. Merry Christmas Syaoran." She said, handing him the box.

"Oh wow thanks." I'll open it on Christmas." He said happily.

"Your welcome."

It started to snow and he looked up at the sky again and so did Sakura. It was beautiful. The snow was covering everything into a blanket of white fluff. They looked at everything that was slowly being covered in snow. They looked up at the stars again and both said nothing. They just enjoyed being with each other. They stayed like that for an hour or so and Sakura wanted to go in from the cold. Syaoran went in with her and both were immediately stopped by Tomoyo who had a camera in her hands.

"You have to kiss now." She said.

"What!" both Sakura and Syaoran said.

Syaoran looked up and saw the most evil thing on the planet, the mistletoe. Both of them had no idea what to do. Syaoran quickly looked at Sakura and Sakura looked at him too. Both were nervous and still had no idea what to do. Everyone looked at them.

"I guess we have to do this." Sakura said, becoming pink.

"Yeah I guess we do huh?" he said, turning pink.

He leaned in and then moved his head to the side of Sakura's face and kissed her on the cheek. Tomoyo happily took the picture of them while everyone watching went awww. It was late and they all left and Syaoran walked Sakura home in the snow. Days later it was Christmas and Syaoran opened up his present which was a couple of movies that he liked. Sakura opened her present that she got from him a day later after the party and it was the bear that he had. Sakura opened up Tomoyo's present and she enjoyed it very much. She smiled and laughed at the small little box, which in the middle, was the mistletoe.


	15. Chapter 15

:**Pain**:

"It all ends here tonight." Sakura said as she stood outside in the pouring night rain.

She walked in the rain to the front door of the school and kicked it down. The lights instantly lit up as she walked down the hall. She started running down the empty hallway and the footsteps echoed. She ran and saw figures of penguins and turned right, going up the stairs. She met a tall man and stabbed him right away. He was hit and took out the sword and disappeared. Sakura smashed the window and jumped out. Wings grew out of her back and she flew to the roof, meeting the man. Sakura jumped at him, but he grabbed her and moved her captivated body over the ledge of the roof. He let go and she fell. As she got closer to the ground she felt the rain pouring down on her, but then also a small faint of wind.

"Syaoran!" she yelled out as she woke up.

She was panting hard and her heart was beating fast. Droplets of sweat were all over her forehead and dripped down as she sat upright. It was the dream again. The very same one three years ago. she looked at the clock and saw that it was soon going to be seven. She got up and decided to get ready for school. She stepped outside and looked at the blossoming trees of spring. She arrived to school on time for once. As she got to class, everyone seemed happy.

"Hey Syaoran." She said as she walked over to him.

"Sakura. Something happened." He said urgently.

"What? What happened?" she asked.

Before he could answer, the teacher, Mr. Terada, walked in. everyone got up and said good morning while bowing. As they were signaled to sit down, he waited for it to be quiet. It seemed like he had something good to say based on the smile he had on his face.

"I'm sure as all of you know, all of us will be going over to the award ceremony and be staying over night as well." He said.

The silent class suddenly broke out in whispers. Some couldn't believe what was happening. They were going to have a free day. But however, some looked at Sakura happily for some unknown reason. It felt like she was being watched by everyone.

"And the reason why we're all going as some of you may already know." He said as he continued on. "The reason is because of our very own Sakura Kinomoto, one of the finalists in the contest that was sponsored by the Yomoto Enterprises."

Sakura just sat there in her seat, knowing that she never ever entered it. But she knew that the new boss was the enemy. Was he trying to make her be closer to him so he can strike? Or was it all just a joke? Or maybe even a dream? She started to think about all of this. What was going to happen? The school day passed by rather quickly and was walking home with Sayoran, who was also confused.

"Did you tell him that you didn't enter?" Syaoran asked.

"Yeah but he was like, "Oh you're just shy. It's ok to be like that." She said, imitating him.

"What do you think that we should do?" he asked her.

"I really don't know." She said.

She became quiet and looked on the ground. "I had that dream again." She said.

"That dream again?" he said.

"Yeah…but somehow it was kinda different. I felt something after falling off." Sakura said. "I'm scared."

"It'll be ok." He said, trying to comfort her. "I'll protect you no matter what."

"Syaoran….Thank you." she said as she went in to hug him. "What are we gonna do?"

"We'll go." He said fiercely. "No matter what happens, we'll be ready."

"Yeah. Let's do this." She said.

A week later, Syaoran was awakened by the alarm from his clock. It was five in the morning and he got ready to run as he has been doing lately. He got outside and ran for about an hour. He ran back but not to his house but to Sakura's house, who was waiting outside. She was going to run with him like what she has been doing ever since the announcement. They did that for an hour and both went back to their houses. They both packed some more things and both were ready. They met up alter again at his house and walked over to Tomoy's house which was a bit far. She carried her camcorder, taping them talking and laughing. Sakura stopped walking to tie her shoes.

"Syaoran…" Tomoyo whispered to Syaoran. "Have you told her yet?"

"No…not yet…" he whispered back.

"Ok…Well, when are you going to tell her?" she asked.

"I don't know, but soon though." He said.

She was done and all three of them walked to school where at the front of the school was the bus that was going to take them to the hotel. They we're all ready and went on the bus. Kero popped out of Sakura's bag and looked around.

"Kero!" Sakura quietly yelled at him. "What if you're seen?"

"It doesn't matter. I want some food." He said.

She pushed her finger on to him and he went back inside. They went on the bus and Sakura and Tomoyo sat next to each other, while Syaoran sat with Yamazaki. More people got on the bus and soon it was full with everyone in the class. They all couldn't wait to enjoy the trip. They were about to leave and they all high five each other. They were ready for anything that was going to be thrown at them. Their faces were all filled with confidence. They couldn't wait any longer.

"Let's get ready to rock!" he said.

"Oh yeah!" the girls screamed out.


	16. Chapter 16

:**Pain**:

They rode on the bus for what had seemed like a long time but eventually made it to the hotel. They all went into the lobby where they waited as the Mr. Terada checked in. After a few minutes they were all checked in and went to their rooms. But of course the boys were on one floor while the girls were on the other. They all went to their rooms and dropped off their things and goofed off by calling up for room service and picking out what to steal afterwards when they check out. Syaoran went down to the lobby to read his book peacefully but instead ran into Sakura.

"Oh Sakura, hey." He said.

"Hi Syaoran." She said to him in a cheerful voice.

"What are you doing here?" he asked her.

"Oh I was wondering if you wanted to hang out with me and Tomoyo." She said.

"Uh yeah of course." He said.

"Ok." She said with a smile. "Come on let's go."

They took one step forward and something instantly flew next to Sakura, grabbing her small brown case with a strap that had her cards, the source of her magical powers. It flew off and so did the two of them as they chased it down the hallway. It twisted and turned quick at corners and tight spaces. It flew down to the stairs and they still ran after it. The chase went on and made it down to the lobby where the thing flew off out of an open window.

"Damn it." He yelled out. "Come on let's go."

They quickly ran outside and could barely see the flying thing, but it was visible by the fact that it was carrying a small case. It took them a couple of seconds to find it and run for it. They chased it long and far, well outside the hotel and to an empty building. It dropped the case on top the roof and then suddenly ripped into small white pieces.

"Come on let's go get it." Syaoran said to her."

"Yeah, but we should be careful though." She said with a little worry in her voice.

He nodded in agreement and both ran to the double doors. They continued on running across the room and up the stairs. Their footsteps echoed and creaked as they ran up, going floor by floor by floor. The walls were are a pale yellow that was cracked and falling apart. Canisters of paint were all over the floors as they ran, dodging and weaving through to the other flight of stairs. In time they made it, beating the twenty five story building. They made it to the rooftop and saw case that was lying near the edge. They quickly ran to it but Sakura stop suddenly. Syaoran didn't know that she stopped running and still ran for it and achieved on getting it. He didn't realize that she wasn't with him until he noticed that it was quiet.

"Sakura?" he asked as he turned around.

He saw her but it wasn't a good thing. Sakura was captured by a tall young woman. Her black robe waved in the blowing wind as well as her long black hair. The woman held Sakura from behind with her arm around her neck and a knife in the other. Syaoran had no idea what to do.

"What do you want?" he yelled at the woman.

"Her." She said. "She would prove useful to him."

"What does he want with her?" he asked.

"That isn't any of your business." She said.

He looked at Sakura who had a look of fear on her face. He had no choice but to save her. He stood there figuring out what to do. But he still remember, the promised that he made. He had to save her no matter what. But then the woman moved her hand that had the knife and raised it above her head. She did a twirling motion and suddenly an oversized toy monkey came out of the sky and landed in the middle of Syaoran and the woman holding Sakura.

"I'm wasting my time here." She said coldly. "Finish him off."

She jumped off, but had a hard time because of the struggling Sakura.

"You're lucky he wants you alive." She whispered in her ear.

Syaoran stood face to face with the monkey. He took out his pendent and his sword magically came and held it in his hands. He ran towards it and jumped. He swung his sword over his head and straight down on the huge head of the monkey, but it dodged it. He spent a lot of time fighting it while the woman and Sakura were getting away. He had to end it quickly. He didn't want to lose her. Syaoran was fed up with it and tried to run past the monkey but it swung its arm down in front of him, blocking his path.

"Syaoran!" Sakura screamed out.

He looked around and saw in the distance her and the woman standing on a branch of a tree looking at him.

"We're going to have so much fun Sakura." She said with a smile on her face.

After saying that, the woman stuck out her tongue and then licked the left side of Sakura's face.

"What the hell are you doing to her?" he yelled out at her.

He ran but the money jumped in front and blocked his way. He didn't care and then jumped high into the air. He quickly threw a small yellow piece of paper at the head of the monkey. Boom it went. A large dust of cloud appeared and Sakura had no idea what had happened. And neither did the woman. Syaoran emerged out of the cloud and jumped off the building. He soared across and the woman stood in disbelief but didn't pay much attention to it. Sakura shoved her elbow into the stomach of the woman. It didn't hurt her at all.

"Syaoran now!" Sakura yelled out.

The woman had no idea what was going on. She moved her hand with the knife but was chopped off by Syaoran's sword. There was no blood. The knife and the hand fell down turning into water. Her body as a whole fell apart and exploded in water.

"You won't be lucky next time." She said as her face turned to water.


	17. Chapter 17

:**Pain**:

Sakura laid in her bed with thoughts swarming in her head. She glanced over to the clock that read a little after one and then closed her eyes. She opened them up and got out of her bed and to the balcony window, moving the curtains away from her with her hand. Sakura looked at the moon and the brightly pool of stars that made her felt relaxed, something she hasn't felt in a long time. She went back to the bed and giggled at the site of Tomoyo's drool. Sakura took out a sweater and left the room, going over to Syaoran's room that was a floor above. She wondered if he was awake at the time but found an answer as she saw the golden glow that was under the door. Quietly, she knocked on the door, hoping that he or at least someone would hear it. A minute later the door opened up and it wasn't Syaoran but Yamazaki.

"Sakura?" Yamazaki asked her as he held his book. "It's late. What are you doing here?"

"Is Syaoran sleeping?"

Yamazaki nodded and said, "Yeah he is. Hold on."

He walked over to where Syaoran was sleeping and woke him up.

"No don't wake him up!" Sakura yelled at him.

But it was already too late. Sakura saw Yamazaki and a half asleep Syaoran that was leaning on Yamazaki.

"Uh forget it." Sakura said, as she quickly left.

"Huh? What happened?" Syaoran asked.

Apparently Yamazaki didn't care and went on with one of his "true" stories.

"Did you know that the reason why Eskimos made their igloos round was to represent the sun in order to make things warm up since then it was cold?"

"Oh really?" Syaoran said, all amazed. "That is really fascinating."

"Yes yes."

Sakura walked slowly back to her room but then stopped when she heard a voice calling out her name. She turned around and saw that it was Syaoran running towards her.

"Hey come on we gotta go." He said as he grabbed her arm, tugging her in a direction of where to go.

"Why? What's going on?" she exclaimed.

"They're coming." He said quickly as they continued walking fast.

"They? Who are you talking…..wait…you don't mean "them" right?" she said. "Crap...come on let's go to my room."

The talk of school and tests were filling up the room. Two teachers appeared out of the stairway and walked along the hallway. Sakura and Syaoran ran for their lives. They couldn't be caught for violating curfew. They made it to her room but shad to slam the door shut.

"Hey, what was that?" one of them questioned.

"Seemed like it came from over there." The other one said.

They went to the hallway and looked around but almost went instantly to Sakura's room. They knocked on the door. Since nothing happened, they knocked on the door again. Still nothing.

"If you don't open up this door, everyone in the room will have dentention." Said one of the teachers.

Sakura opened up the door quickly and smiled at both of them.

"Hi?" she said.

"Does this belong to you?" one said as he held a pack of playing cards.

"Uh…is it gone?" she asked.

"What's gone?" they both asked.

"Uh…that…bug?"

"A bug?" one asked.

"Yeah a bug…" she said. "I was gonna go play cards by myself since I can't go to sleep and I went to get them out of my bag and I felt something and I ran to the door and dropped it down there?"

Both of them looked at her suspiciously. She looked back at them. Then one of them said, "Ok. Just don't slam the door or watch tv."

"Yes sir." She said, saluting them.

"I believe that this is yours then." The other said holding the cards.

"Uh well there was a bug so I don't…."

Syaoran, who was standing next to her, poked her in the stomach.

"I mean yeah I'll take them." She said quickly. "Good night."

She grabbed them and closed the door on them. They waited after awhile hearing their footsteps fade away. Syaoran walked over to a chair to sit down while Sakura followed. They both sat down and did nothing. Sakura looked out at the window, looking at the moon and the stars again.

"Why did you come over to our room?" Syaoran asked.

Sakura didn't say anything. She still looked out the window. It was like that for awhile and Syaoran got up from his chair and started to go for the door.

"Wait." She said as she grabbed his hand. "Please, can you stay a bit longer?"

She got up also but lost her balance and fell on top of him, causing both to fall down on the floor, alongside the bed. Syaoran was on the floor while Sakura was on top of him. He waited for her to move but she didn't.

"So why did you come over?" he asked her again.

It took her awhile but said, "It doesn't matter anymore. Syaoran…can we stay like this?"

It was his turn to be quiet. He didn't say anything to her. All he did was look at the ceiling.

"Yeah sure."

Soon enough, they both fell asleep in each other's arms. The light of the sun and the noise of the girls awakened Sakura. Sakura was in her bed. She wondered if all of it was all just a dream. She looked at the ceiling and didn't do anything.

"Was it all just a dream?" she said, quietly to herself.

She couldn't believe that all that had happened that night was nothing. Just another dream. She stayed in bed as the others went to go get breakfast. She was all alone. She got out of her bed and walked over to the bathroom to get ready to go down with the others also. She showered and brushed her teeth, but was still sad. She walked over to her bag and get dressed and was ready to go down. She got to the door but realized that she had forgotten her watch and went back to her bed. She took out her watch but noticed something that was on the table. She smiled and saw a small post it note of a drawing, a roach playing cards. She went out of the room and to the elevators and saw Tomoyo, who apparently was waiting for her.

"Tomoyo!" she said. "Were you waiting?"

"Yeah duh." Tomoyo said.

"Oh hehe. I hope you weren't waiting long." Sakura said.

"Nah its ok." Tomoyo said. "Just next time, I'll just wait for you in the room."

"Ok ok." Sakura said. "Hey can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah of course." She replied.

The elevator light of going down went on and chimed at the same time.

"Do you think that anyone likes Syaoran?"

"Uh I have no idea." Tomoyo said. "Why? Do you like him?"

The elevator door opened up. "Yeah I do like Syaoran." She said as she walked into the elevator.

Tomoyo followed but stop just like Sakura who had stopped walking. Syaoran stood in the middle of the elevator.

"Wha?" he said.


	18. Chapter 18

:**Pain**:

"Oh hey look, there's Sakura!" Tomoyo said to Syaoran.

He looked up and his face started to turn red. He quickly looked down at his lap after seeing her on the stage. He wondered if it was really true, her feelings for him.

"Still thinking about it are you?" Tomoyo asked him.

"Yeah." He said. "So does she really?"

"Yeah I guess." She said.

He looked back up at Sakura who was smiling and waving at the crowd. "This is gonna be a problem. Hey I'm just gonna go now."

Surprised, Tomoyo said, "You don't wanna stay and cheer for Sakura?"

He began rubbing the back of his head and said, "Uh nah. I don't like these things anyways…"

He walked over to Mr. Terada and asked permission to go to the bathroom. Syaoran stood outside of the room where the ceremony was being held in with his arms crossed. He kept on tapping the floor with his right foot, doing something to keep him occupied as he waited impatiently for the ceremony to end. He took a peek into the room by lightly opening the door, looking through the crack. Looking through, there were rows and rows of people sitting, all looking at the stage where the contestants, were standing in a row and at the end was Sakura. After seeing her, he closed the door and leaned against the wall.

"Hm…Gonna have to tell her now." he said to himself.

He stood back up and went inside. He walked over to the teacher, Mr. Terada again.

"May I go back to the hotel? I don't feel very well." he whispered to him.

"Hm…you don't look like you're feeling well." the teacher said. "I suppose you may."

"Thank you." He said as he quickly walked off.

Syaoran walked back to the hotel and got to his room. In the room, he jumped on the middle part of the bed and laid there looking at the white ceiling. He closed his eyes and then opened them up as he heard a loud knock from the door. The white ceiling was no longer there but replaced with the orangey glow of the setting sun. He quickly got off the bed and opened the door.

"Hey come on its time for dinner." Tomoyo said in a cheerful tone.

"Oh hey thanks." He said to her. "Come on let's go."

He closed the door as he walked out. They both went to the elevator and pushed the button for one going down. Soon one came by and they both went in.

"You're gonna have to tell her." Tomoyo said.

"I know." He said, looking at her. "I know."

The elevator went ding and the doors opened up to the lobby where the crowd of students were at. They got out and walked over to the side where they saw Sakura standing with Yamazaki, Rika and Thiharu talking. Tomoyo yelled out at them and they all looked in their direction. Sakura turned her head and looked at Syaoran. They both looked at each other while everyone else was talking about some hit tv show that was called, "Deck Capturer Asakura." They didn't say anything and when Syaoran was about to, he was interrupted by Mr. Terada calling everyone in and heading out for dinner. It was a big celebration as it was the last night that they would all be spending here and then would leave in the morning. They walked over to the restaurant and all were seated in and somehow Syaoran and Sakura were sitting next to each other.

"How interesting…" he said, glaring at Tomoyo.

"Ho ho ho...Who knows how that happened." she said.

"Riiight…" Syaoran said, still looking at her.

Sakura, of course was completely oblivious to what was going on. The food came and everyone dug in. Everyone was eating except for Syaoran who was lost in thought. Afterwards everyone was left to do whatever in their free time.

"Psst." Tomoyo whispered to Syaoran. "You can tell her now."

"Fine, fine will." He said, annoyed.

He looked at Sakura and walked over to her but then walked away fast to the direction of Mr. Terada talking to him, and then left. A couple of hours passed by and Sakura decided to go back to the hotel. Minutes later, she walked into the hotel lobby and saw Syaoran on the couch holding his cell phone in his hand looking depressed.

"Hey, are you ok?" she asked as she walked over to him.

She wondered if he was thinking about the time at the elevator in the morning, the unplanned confession. He didn't respond.

"Syaoran?" she said.

"Huh?" he said, after snapping out of it and back into reality.

"Are you ok?" she asked nervously.

Syaoran was quiet. He didn't say anything nor did he want to. He just sat there looking down while Sakura looked at him, wondering what was wrong.

"Syaoran." She said as she sat next to him. "Tell me what's wrong. Please."

She lightly placed her hand on his. He looked at her and she looked back. They both looked at each other for a long time without saying anything to each other. She then inched her body closer to his and he did the same. Her hand was still on his and then he shifted his body facing hers. She did the same also. Her heart was beating fast. They still looked at each other and then started getting closer. Their heads were moving closer than ever before, so close that it was a few inches apart.

"I…" Sakura said, softly. "I really like you Syaoran."

"Sakura, I…" he said.


End file.
